Asus GeForce GTX 960 DirectCU II OC STRIX 2GB Review

Final Thoughts

Firstly we would like to apologise for the lack of AMD based tests, the reason behind this, as I’m sure everyone can relate too, is general wear and tear. Our R9 285 had to be returned to AMD and our R9 280X wouldn’t allow us to boot. When we receive these cards, back, we will make an update to include the additional cards.

Pricing (accurate at the time of writing)

The Asus STRIX GeForce GTX 960 2GB has a MSRP of $209, when you compare that to its reference brother priced at $199, you would be daft not to go for this offering. An extra $10 for excellent cooling, acoustics and an attractive cooling shroud, count me in.

In the UK, Overclockers UK are stocking this model for £189.95 + delivery, giving it a slight increase in price over a stock base model, but considering it includes a pre-factory overclock and custom cooling solution, we think that it’s well worth it.

Summary

I am torn with this graphics card, generally when you progress into a new nano-process, you bring forward more performance than its previous version. During the Compute testing, the Maxwell architecture shone through, giving some dazzling results. However, during general game testing, the results weren’t favourable for the new kid on the block. In the past it has been proven that new graphics cards only get better with age with the release and specific tuning of drivers, so maybe in the near future we’ll see benchmark score increase for this card.

On the other end of the spectrum, I am very pleased with its acoustics, as the card can run completely silent for general operation and even when gaming, it proved to be very quiet compared to many rival cards. With a good chassis, it is possible you may not hear more than a whisper from this card.temperatures and power consumption, all pointing towards a budget gamers dream card.

Temperatures and power consumption are both very impressive. Maxwell has been a big success for Nvidia in this respect and the GTX 960 doesn’t let the green team down one bit. For a card on this budget level, it’s very impressive and while it may not have a huge amount of gaming grunt compared to its bigger brothers, it’s certainly balanced out in terms of cost.

For gamers on a tight budget, this card is a sure thing. It’s competent in gaming, certainly more than enough to run any modern game, even if it won’t always hit ultra settings. It’s kind on your wallet, it’s quiet and it’s energy efficient. This could be perfect for a HTPC gaming system, budget build or a first time gaming rig.

Pros

• Top of the range cooling solution
• Silent operation, when running passively.
• Amazingly low power consumption
• A very short card compared to some of its rivals.
• Competitive price vs performance ratio

Cons

• Poor ‘next generation’ performance, hopefully to be ironed out with new drivers

“If you’re in the market for something that can offer some awesome gaming performance, but you’re on a budget, look no further than the Asus STRIX GeForce GTX 960.“

Thank you to Asus for providing this review sample.